Archives for "Sustainability"

Thursday

F. Sherwood “Sherry” Rowland, who shared a 1995 Nobel Prize for his ozone-layer research, discusses his work in atmospheric chemistry and environmental advocacy in a Bates College event at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

Tuesday

The Bates Energy Action Movement and the Sierra Student Coalition, the student chapter of the Sierra Club, co-sponsor the Maine State Climate Summit at Bates College from Friday, Feb. 8, through Sunday, Feb. 10. Students attending high schools, colleges and universities in Maine are invited to take advantage of this opportunity to discuss and act on issues and ideas, ranging from wind power to eco-art, that pertain to climate change.

Tuesday

In recent weeks we’ve learned what Dining Services director Christine Schwartz likes about the new dining Commons. Now it’s the turn of Paul Farnsworth, Bates’ project manager for the building. A mechanical engineer, Farnsworth especially appreciates the ventilation scheme. There’s no building-wide air conditioning per se. Instead, it’s essentially a natural system, he explained: the high-peaked main dining hall and an adjacent airshaft will create a chimney effect to pull fresh air in through windows that can actually be opened — an unusual feature these days in large new buildings.

Tuesday

A student serving on a food advisory committee once told Christine Schwartz, Dining Services’ director, that anticipating a meal at the current Memorial Commons is like getting psyched up for battle. “You pretty much have to fight your way through Commons now” because of the way the space is arranged, Schwartz said. New arrivals at mealtime, still burdened with coats and backpacks, immediately find themselves in a confusion of food stations and fellow diners pressing in all directions. All that will change when the new Commons opens in February.

Friday

If the schedule holds, in about 10 weeks Dining Services will serve the first meals in the new Commons. “It’s going to be a fabulous facility,” Dining Services director Christine Schwartz told Campus Construction Update during a conversation about the transition from old to new.

Wednesday

Usually closed on Sundays, the Bates College Museum of Art will open its doors from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 9 to provide visitors with one last chance to experience “Green Horizons,” a landmark exhibition exploring the concept of environmental sustainability.

Friday

Just a few months ago, new construction projects at Bates were transforming a swath of campus that extended from Mount David to Merrill Gym. Now, like a Hollywood crane shot where the camera swoops down from lofty to intimate, the focus of construction at Bates is closing in on the interior of the new dining Commons.

Wednesday

Karen Adrienne, a printmaker and member of the art faculty at the University of Maine at Augusta, visits Bates College to give a talk titled “Impermanent Art and Sustainable Community” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, in Room 105 of the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.